Prince Harry reacts after speech is cut short following teleprompter mishap

Prince Harry’s speech warning of the dangers of social media and artificial intelligence for young people was ironically cut short by a technical glitch.

The Duke of Sussex, 42, had to halt his address at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York on Wednesday (23 September) when the teleprompter failed, joking that ‘AI had got into it’.

Harry has travelled back across the pond to America for his first public appearance there since he returned to live in the UK with his wife Meghan Markle and children Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five.

However, seven minutes into his impassioned speech, the royal came to an abrupt halt as he said: “The damage was already done to a generation of children and parents. We do not have years for what comes next,” before giving a long pause and then saying: “And that’s it”.

He later returned to the stage and said: “Hello again. So AI got into my speech, so I was asked to come out and finish it.”

Prince Harry gave a passionate speech about protecting children from online harm (JP Yim/Getty Images)

The Duke joked: “Interesting to see what it was so concerned about in part two.”

In the speech, Harry cautioned against the growing threat from AI and urged the world not to wait and see before protecting children from online harm.

He told the room: “Innovation has never required us to gamble with our children’s lives. We should not accept that bargain now.

“I come to this as a father - one who has shared countless conversations with other parents as they mourned the loss of their children to recklessly built technology.

“And as a father, I will remind you of the faces that accompanied me the last time I stood before you. Hundreds have become thousands.”

While speaking, Harry was standing in front of a haunting backdrop showing the lock screen photos of children who took their own lives or suffered serious harm through experiences on social media.

Warning against AI specifically, Harry alleged that AI companion chatbots had contributed to the deaths of teenagers ‘who trusted them with things no child should have been left alone to ask an algorithm’.

Harry joked that it was 'interesting to see what' AI was 'so concerned about in part two' (John Nacion/Getty Images)

He said: “It’s the same playbook that built the last crisis - only now the technology is more persuasive, more intimate, and more powerful.

“And there is another difference this time. Social media learned how to capture our attention. AI is learning how to enter our relationships.”

The royal continued:: “It doesn’t just want your attention, it wants your attachment. It wants to be the thing you confide in.

“The thing that remembers you. The thing that tells you it understands you. The ultimate sycophant. For a child, that distinction matters enormously.

“We have spent years trying to loosen technology’s grip on children’s attention. We cannot wait another decade to discover what happens when technology has a grip on their relationships.”

It comes after Harry attended the 2026 WellChild Awards in London on Monday (21 September) to continue his long-standing relationship with the charity.

He has been patron of WellChild, the national charity for seriously ill children and their families, since 2007 and regularly attends the awards ceremony.